Taipei to step up security on its metro system

CNA file photo

Taipei, July 29 (CNA) Taipei City decided Wednesday to deploy an additional 124 security officers in its mass rapid transit network, following a random knife attack in the subway system on July 20.

The decision to increase the city's MRT security patrol from 166 to 290 guards was made after 27-year-old Kuo Yen-chun (郭彥君) wounded four people with a knife at the system's Zhongshan Station in central Taipei around 9 p.m. on July 20.

The Taipei Rapid Transit Police Brigade had filed an application with the city government since last year to deploy more security guards in the subway system after a 21-year-old college student killed four passengers and injured 24 others in a knife-wielding rampage on a moving MRT train on May 21, 2014.

Following the most recent stabbing spree, the city government decided during a meeting Wednesday to deploy an additional 124 police officers in the system, to tighten security at all MRT stations and on the trains.

Initially, the 124 police officers will be dispatched from the Criminal Investigation Division and the Traffic Division of the Taipei City Police Department, according to the city government.